Sliver-evening device for drawing-frames.



No. 786,242. PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905. V. SFWESTGOTT 6: P. W. POTTER.

SLIVER EVENING DEVICE FOR DRAWING FRAMES.

- APPLIUATION FILED MAY 31,1904.

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No. 786,242. PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905.

- V. S. WESTOOTT. & F. W. POTTER.

SLIVER EVENING DEVICE FOR DRAWING FRAMES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

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No. 786,242. PATENTED MAR. 28, 1905.

v.3. WESTGOTT & F. w. POTTER. SL'IWEQZEV'ENING DEVICE FOR DRAWINGFRAMES.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 31, 1904.

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UNITED STATES Patented March 28, 1905.

PATENT OFFISIE.

VALORUS S. VVESTCOTT, OF PAWTUCKET, AND FRANK W. POTTER, OF CENTRALFALLS, RHODE ISLAND.

SLlVER-EVENING DEVICE FOR DRAWING-FRAMES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 786,242, dated. March28, 1905.

Application filed May 31, 1904. Serial No. 210,351.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, VALoRUs S. Vl' ns'rcor r, a resident of Pawtucket,and FRANK WV. POT- TER, a resident of Central Falls, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, citi- Zens of the United States ofAmerica, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in SliverEvening Devices for Drawing- Frames, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to certain improvements in sliver-evening devicesfor drawingframes and kindred machines; and it consists in the novelconstruction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.The object we have in view is to produce an evener, so called,possessing a greater degree of efficiency and capable of being actuatedwith less power than devices of this class as usually constructed.

By means of our invention the Work or output is materially increased,the sliver produced being at the same time more uniform or homogeneousthroughout. These advantageous results are attained through the mediumof the instrumentalities forming the subject of the present applicationfor Letters Patent.

In the accompanying three sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view ofa drawingframe provided with our improvements, some of the minor detailsbeing omitted. Fig. 2 is a corresponding side elevation. Fig. 3 is anend view in partial transverse section, some of the driving mechanism,&c., being omitted, the plane of said section being taken on lines 1: wof Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a side view showing a modified form of theevener-roll and the fellow rolls or wheels cooperating therewith.

It may be stated that in railway-heads or drawing-frames as usuallyconstructed the sliver-eveningoperation is effected at the front side ofthe headthat is, intermediate the front drawing-rolls and thecalender-rolls. In

our invention we employ evener-rolls located,

at the back of the drawing-rolls, whereby any appreciable variations inthe thickness of the moving slivers operates through the novel d eviceto automatically change the speed of the back drawing-rolls slower orfaster, as the case may require, thereby delivering the sliver to thepositively-driven front and calender rolls in a uniform manner.

In carrying out our invention the front drawing-rolls '2' andcalender-rolls s of the drawing-frame may be mounted and driven in anywellknown way. In the drawings herewith the said rolls '1 are rotated bya shaft (4, adapted to run at a uniform rate of speed by a belt a,driving a pulley a secured to said shaft, the calender rolls beingpositively driven by means of gearing, &c., as usual. The said rolls 9',shaft 0/, &c., and also the back drawing-rolls 1" and evener-roll m aremounted in suitable bearings secured to a base or table a, as clearlyshown. To the front end of said shaft a is secured a driving-disk (Z,from which power is transmitted through an interposed friction-wheel cto an oppositelydisposed friction-disk cl, secured to a yielding orendwise-movable shaft 6, revolubly mounted in bearings b I). The saidrolls r and m are driven by means of suitably-arranged gear-trainsf, f,and f connected therewith and with the variably-driven shaft 6. (SeeFig. 1.)

e prefer to provide the shaft Z) with a thrust-bearing havingantifriction-balls 7)", a screw-threaded portion 1), a nut b, movablyfitted to said thread, and a helical spring 11*, interposed between saidnut and thrust-bearing. By means of this arrangement the degree offrictional contact between the wheel 0 and disk d may be controlled asdesired.

It is obvious that the speed ratio of the disk (Z to the driving-disk (Zis governed by the relative position thereto of the small frictionwheelc that is to say, if the axis of the latter be moved toward theuniformly-revolving driving-shaft a the speed of disk (Z will becorrespondingly reduced, and if it be moved in the opposite direction ortoward the driven shaft 5 the speed will be increased. This principle ofoperation is utilized to change the speed of the back drawing-rolls o"and the evener-roll m when variations occur in the normal thickness ofthe traveling slivers 71 For example, when the sliver exceeds the normalthickness the speed of said rolls should be correspondingly decreasedand, conversely, the speed increased when the. sliver is less than thenormal thickness. In order to automatically effect such change in thespeed of the said sliver-operating rolls the frictionwheel 0 isrevolubly mounted in a yoke c, Fig. 3, adjustably secured to an endwise-movable horizontal rod 0, supported in fixed bearings 0 the rearend portion a of the rod being slotted longitudinally at (5 and carryinga roll a and counterweight w. Contiguous to the rear end of the rod issecured a standard 7), its upper end being slotted at p to receive a pinor fulcrum p, on which is pivoted the bell-crank lever Z, the lower endof which latter is yoked to receive said roll 0'. The horizontal arm Iof the lever is provided with a small slidable llanged wheel W, all asclearly shown. Thus it is clear that upon vibrating the arm Z the part/will simultaneously move the rod and its friction-wheel 0 forward orbackward as the said arm is raised above or de pressed below thehorizontal or normal position. The distance thus traversed by the wheelcorresponds to the ratio of the two members of the lever.

Another feature of our invention resides in the novel construction ofthe evener-roll 1/1 combined with equalizing means for transmitting anyvariations in the thickness of the slivers ii to the saidwheel-controllii'ig lever Z. The evener-roll m is located at the rear ofthe back drawing-rolls w and is provided with a number or series ofconcentric peri 'iheral grooves in, adapted to receive the severalslivers. A small independent wheel or disk n. is mounted to turn freelyin each groove, its periphery being arranged to bear directly upon thesliver passing between it and the bottom of the groove. A lightverticallymovable yoke '21 has the wheel '12 journaled therein, theupper end of the yoke being adapted to form a'seat or fulcrum for thesmall knife-edged saddle a, the latter in turn constituting a fulcrumfor the upper and larger saddle u and being in engagement with the underside of the horizontal equalizinglever 1'', thus formil'ig a livefulcrum u, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The said lever Z: extends intothe upper end of a hollow standard and is pivoted or l'ulcrumed thereinat a screw and nut 1 being employed for effecting an accurate adjustmentof the parts. The lever is kept in position laterally by means ofintegral lugs g. The outer or free end 7: of the lever is slotted toreceive the said flanged wheel 4 of the bell-crank lever Z. The saidyokcs a are vertically guided in a fixed bar or member n, to theopposite sides of which are secured upwardly-extending cheeks 11 Fig. 3,adapted to maintain said saddle members a a in position laterally.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that any variation in thethickness of the sliver le passing from the tension-roll Z to andbetween the grooved portion m of the evenerroll and the correspondingdisks '11, previously adjusted or weighted to the work or output, asdesired, will be greatly multiplied through the medium of the compoundlevers employed, thereby automatically changing the position of thecontinuously-revolving friction-wheel 0 a corresponding extent andcausing the evener and drawing rolls m r, respectively, to revolveslower or faster, as the case may be, with respect to theuniformly-revolving front d i-a\\ 'ing-rolls r and calender-rolls s, theresult being to automatically slacken the speed of rolls in and r incase the sliver becomes temporarily thicker than normal, thereby in themeantime permitting the faster revolving front rolls '2' to draw thesliver down to the normal thickness, and thus feed a practically uniformquantity of sliver or material to the calender-rolls at all times. Incase the sliver is of less thickness than normal when it enters theevener-roll the mechanism automatically acts to quicken the speed ofsaid rolls 1/1 and i" in excess of that of the front rolls, so that theamount or quantity of material entering the rolls r and s issubstantially the same in any event.

In lieu of the grooved roll m and wheels .11. the former may be providedwith a corresponding number of concentric peripheral projecting ribs112., Fig. 4, each having an independently mounted vertically movablefreely-turning flanged wheel a engaging therewith, the sliver in thiscase passing between the adjacent surfaees substantially as beforedescribed with respect to the grooves m and disks n.

Each pair of slivers it, passing from the rear tensionroll t, may becombined to form a single sliver, each of which latter is in turn drawnthrough a stationary trumpet e,which guides it to the respective grooveof roll m. The several slivers pass from said roll to and between therear d rawing-rolls r and then to the front drawing-rolls '2', thesliver issuing from the latter rolls then being practically a single onehaving a greater width than the initial or normal sliver. The slivernext in passing through the front stationary trumpet n andcalemler-rolls s is somewhat contracted and compressed or condensed, theaction of the latter rolls being substantially as common in producingthe discharged sliver /1,.

\Vc may add that in order to counteract the tendency of the revolvingdriving-disks (Z (Z to advance the friction-wheel c and itssupporting-rod e a suitably-mounted counterweight w attached to the rearend 0 of the rod, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

\Ve claim as our invention and desire to secure by United States LettersPatent 1. In a sliver-evening device for drawingframes,having front ordelivery drawing-rolls, drivingmechanism for revolving them at asubstantially uniform rate of speed, and rear rolls 7" for feeding aplurality of independent slivers between them to said front rolls, thecombination therewith of sliver-evening mechanism comprising a revolubleevener-roll m, a revoluble yieldingly-mounted wheel for each sliver,said wheel being actuated by said roll m, variable driving means takingits motion from the said front driving mechanism for rotating the saidrear and evener rolls, andan automatic equalizing device having itsmovements controlled by variations in the thickness of any one of theslivers While the latter are passing between the said evener-roll andwheels.

2. In a drawing-frame having front drawing-rolls and mechanism forrotating them at a uniform or invariable rate of speed, said mechanismincluding adriving-disk (Z revolving in unison with the same, thecombination therewith of a plurality of pairs of rear rolls whichdeliver the slivers to said front drawing-rolls, a yieldinglymountedoppositelydisposed fellow disk cl revoluble in the same direction as thesaid driving-disk, a freelyturning beveled-faced wheel 0 interposedbetween and in frictional engagement with the working faces of both thesaid disks, an evener-roll and revoluble independent wheels a coactingtherewith, between the adjacent peripheral surfaces of which the sliverspass to the said rear rolls, means connected with the disk cl forrotating said evener and rear rolls, and a device operatively connectedwith said revoluble members 0 and n for automatically changing the speedof said rolls, substantially as hereinbefore described and for thepurpose set forth.

3. In a drawing-frame, the combination with the front drawing-rolls anddriving mechanism therefor arranged to revolve them at a uniform rate ofspeed, of a plurality of pairs of rear rolls between which the sliverpasses, means for revolving said rear rolls, said means beingoperatively driven by the first-named driving mechanism, and suitablymounted compound or multiple levers adapted in their movements toautomatically change the speed of the said mechanism which rotates therear rolls, one of the latter rolls being provided with. a guided andweighted freely-turning wheel for each sliver, whereby variations in thethickness of the slivers while passing between the adjacent peripheralsurfaces of said roll and wheels cause the levers and connectedmechanism to become operative.

4. In a sliver-evening device for drawingframes, the combination withthe evener-roll m and mechanism adapted for driving the same at variablerates of speed, of a plurality of independent freely turningyieldinglymounted wheels between the peripheral surfaces of which andthe said roll the slivers pass, and a speedchanging device operativelyconnected with said wheels and with the rolldriving mechanism forautomatically changing the speed of rotation of the roll, slower orfaster as the case may be, whenever the thickness of any of the passingslivers varies from the normal.

5. In a drawing-frame provided with uniformly-driven front drawing-rollsbetween which the slivers pass, and rear sliver-feeding rolls adapted tobe driven at varying rates of speed, the combination therewith of afriction-driving disk (Z revolving in unison with said first'namedrolls, a spring-pressed endwise-movable revoluble fellow disk (Zoppositely disposed with respect to said disk (Z, said two disks beingarranged to turn in one direction, a freely-revoluble wheel 0 interposedbetween and in continuous frictional engagement with the working facesof both disks, and means including independent yieldingly-mounted disksa arranged with respect to said rear rolls and operatively connectedwith the wheel 0, whereby variations in the thickness of the passingslivers, greater or less than the normal thickness, causes the saidwheel to be automatically advanced or retracted, thereby respectivelydecreasing or increasing the speed of the rear rolls, substantially asdescribed.

Signed at Providence, Rhode Island, this 28th day of May, 1904.

VALORUS S. IVESTCOTT.

FRANK \V. POTTER. Witnesses:

GEO. H. REMINGTON, (J. E. INGE.

